RESOURCES.

Fit smokers?

February 23, 2003|By Verna Noel Jones.

There's a paradox among some women who take fitness and health seriously. They believe that if they consistently do hard workouts and follow a restrictive diet, it will balance out their other daily habit--smoking.

Not true, say several medical professionals in an informative feature in the February issue of Self magazine.

Though exercise can help prevent you from gaining weight, it does nothing to stop the effects of cigarette smoke. Even social smokers are left with permanent DNA damage. Each cigarette you inhale causes an acute rise in your blood pressure and heart rate. A 20-year study of 12,000 people by the Institute for Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen showed that smoking as few as three cigarettes daily "doubles a woman's heart attack risk and nearly doubles her chances of dying from any cause."

If you're ready to quit and need some help, head to the Web site of the American Lung Association, www.lungusa.org, or to Quitnet, at www.quitnet.com.

New pain relief

If you're looking for relief from pain after surgery and want an alternative to narcotics, ask your physician about ON-Q, a "pain-relief ball." The ON-Q is a balloon-like pump the size of a tennis ball that is worn on the clothing or taped to the skin. The device automatically delivers a non-narcotic numbing medication much like novocaine directly into an incision site through a tiny tube.

A study by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center involving women who gave birth by C-section showed that ON-Q reduced narcotic use by 40 percent and provided the same level of relief. Another study at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida involving women undergoing hysterectomies reported that the device eliminated the need for narcotics in 43 percent of patients and resulted in lower costs, quicker recovery times and shorter hospital stays.

ON-Q also can be used for pain relief in surgeries, including orthopedic procedures, cardiovascular and plastic surgeries and for abdominal and hernia operations. More information on the device can be found at www.AskYourSurgeon.com, or call 800-448-3569.

Show backbone

Rest may seem like a good option when you throw your back out, but physicians have found that the more you avoid activity, the more likely your pain will continue, notes a story in the March issue of Bottom Line Health. Dr. Carol Hartigan, assistant clinical professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, said that lying low in hopes that your back will recover will instead bring a loss of flexibility and muscle strength.

Recent studies report that those people who instead undergo aggressive rehabilitation will greatly reduce their pain. Understand, however, that such therapy requires a big commitment from the patient because it is time-consuming and strenuous.

Such programs require patients to visit the clinic two or three times a week for about six weeks at a cost of up to $2,000, which may not be covered by insurance. You can find an aggressive rehabilitation specialist in your area by contacting the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, www.aapm.org, or call 312-464-9700.

Herbs and cancer

Cancer patients who opt to use complementary and alternative medicines such as herbal products and specialized diets may be taking dangerous risks. Although some alternative cancer therapies can be beneficial or at least harmless, others can be ineffective and risky, researchers note. A summary of their findings regarding the efficacy of commonly used therapies is listed in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine HealthNews.

Listed among the risky or ineffective interventions are high doses of vitamin A or vitamin C. In addition, it is inadvisable to follow a macrobiotic diet while battling breast or endometrial cancer.